


It All Fell Down

by AceofAro



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Erica-centric, Gen, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Not A Fix-It, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, alpha pack was a bunch of dicks, hale pack mention, or why I can't, writer is a horrible person who causes pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-23 19:01:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10725273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceofAro/pseuds/AceofAro
Summary: Erica never was great at doing what she was supposed to.





	It All Fell Down

**Author's Note:**

> Normally I stick to rping so my writing mostly focuses on AU's that make no sense after being taken out of context. This is not that. I figured I'd give it a try sharing more of what bounces around in this head of mine. Hint: it's pain.  
> Fic is not beta'd. All mistakes are my own.

It had started almost sinfully simple.

She had been angry when she rose to her feet in in the vault. Her head had been delightfully clear; focused. The fire had welled up inside of her, chasing away the chill of the vault-- the oppressive fear that alphas had tangled them in. She had always been so afraid. Her personal flame had spread and Erica had felt it spreading down her arms to her fingertips as her claws unsheathed. Fear could never hold her down for long. Golden flame had burst from her eyes and in the depth of her soul she had heard the wolf’s call. 

She had been determined.

It had been escape or death. The alphas had had a plan for them. No one took prisoners without a plan, a purpose: bait, a tool, a toy. They would have not done any better waiting around. She would **not** be a pawn in another game. Powerless. It was _always_ about power. She had planned to make her and Boyd free. Failure hadn’t been an option.  

Their situation had been that dire. 

Only one had come to the vault that day. Kali.  It had been her best chance.

It hadn’t been enough. She hadn’t been enough.

 

          “ _Does anyone wanna try not being completely predictable?”_

 

She had never been great at that. She was the _distraction._  

There were more voices now, but Erica paid then no mind. They didn’t matter now. She had failed. There was going to be nothing now. She felt her fire fading, localizing on the remains of what had been her stomach. It was hopeless. The alphas were never going to allow her enough time to heal. The cold was starting to creep in, she couldn’t feel. 

Her eyes stung as she managed to turn her head. Her vision was blurring-- _blood loss,_ a faint voice in the back of her head supplied-- but she could still see Boyd. His dark eyes horrified as he looked back at her.  

Her arm felt like a ton as she stretched it out. But she had to, she couldn’t help it. The room was starting to grow dark around her, she was scared. She didn’t want to be _alone._

 _“...Boyd.”_ she cried. She was going to go to hell for this. She hadn’t been able to take anyone with her. She hadn’t been strong enough. As the darkness swallowed her she could only hope she hadn’t condemned Boyd to her own fate.

 

* * *

 

Pain was the first thing that registered; a sharp, twisting, fire in her gut that made her gag. Bile bubbled up in her throat and Erica choked on it. A cry rang from her throat as she fell over; eviscerated muscle and flesh sending off explosions of pain. Black spots appeared in front of her eyes as acid and copper purged from her mouth.  

“Firecracker, this one. Too bad she has to go already.” 

Erica head snapped to the side; too fast, far too fast. That was the powerhouse one. En… something. He had been the one to throw Boyd in the vault. Her spotted vision swam before her. She tried to push herself off the cold ground, to smell something, anything, besides blood and bile. Her limbs wouldn’t work. Forget human, she felt as weak as a newborn kitten.

“She’s a fool.”

Unbidden, a growl escaped Erica’s throat at that voice. _Kali._  

“Don’t you like passion, Kali?” 

“There is passion and there is arrogance.” 

Erica felt harsh fingers in her hair, and then, they _yanked_ . Forced back into the sitting position she must have started in, Erica ground her teeth together; a vain to keep quiet as her injury was again aggravated. Her cry was sharp and it echoed in her ears but the new movement didn’t make the bile lurch up from her stomach this time. Her stomach that shouldn’t even be _intact…_

She was healing.   

“Then why haven’t you finished the job?” with that the other alpha left or, at least, walked away. Footfalls grew quieter and then into silence. 

Healing. The thought brought Erica no joy as the she-wolf who had downed her before forced Erica to meet her glowing red gaze. Did she want Erica to submit? Erica’s blood stained lips curled backwards in a snarl and she stared defiantly back.

**_Never._ **

Kali shook Erica’s limp form like a ragdoll, but still, even as pained tears streamed from her eyes she refused to blink, to lower her gaze. She would not submit. Not to this alpha. Not to the woman who was, most probably, going to be her murderer. She was going to die, she knew that, but _rage_ was coursing through her again. She was not going to become this woman’s beta to kill so Kali could fulfill some sick twisted powerplay urge.  

 _Power._ It was always about power. She was going to die. But she wouldn’t die as _Kali’s._ **Derek’s.** A voice echoed in her head with surprising strength. She had ripped herself away from his responsibility. She had run; cursed herself to an omega’s lonely existence. But she would die as his, if anyone's. Kali could take her life but she couldn’t take that from her. She only submitted to one. Derek. Only to Derek.

She had enough strength for that.

The only power this woman had was over her life or death. She had heard En _-something,_ she was already dead. “You’re powerless.” Erica croaked. Her mind was starting to wander, delirium weaving in with the pain. “I renounced my alpha and am _dying at your feet_ and you can’t even make a months old omega submit.” her chest heaved and her voice came out faint, a breathless mumble but her words cut all the same. Through the fog of pain Erica saw as rage flickered in those red eyes. Past the fragile front of bravery she had wrapped around herself, fear once again licked at the edges of Erica’s mind.   

A hand enclosed around her throat, stifling the bubble of hysteric laughter that had been about to burst from Erica’s lips. The woman stood, bringing Erica with her, she could _feel_ her stomach holding together, her belly whole, at least, on the outside. Her feet twitched once as they left the ground.

“Why--?” she choked. “Why won’t you just kill me?” each word was a chore to get out, the alpha’s claws digging into her skin. Each syllable she could feel her throat pulse and bruise against the alpha’s hand. Tears prickled at the edges of Erica’s eyes.  She was done being a _toy._ “ _Chicken_.” she gasped-- goaded -- with the last remaining air in her lungs.  

The kick to her abdomen was a shock. Sharp claws pierced the freshly healed skin but it was nothing compared to the force that rippled through her.  Erica’s eyes bulged as she felt her insides burst. The hands on her throat and hair were gone and Erica crumpled to the floor; blood drowning her as she tried to wheeze in air past the new resurgence of bile.

“You _will_ learn respect.” The alpha hissed.

“ ‘Bit late for that.” Erica deadpanned, the effect sadly dampened with her face stuck in a puddle her own bloody bile. More blood than bile now. She wondered how much damage she could take before she stopped healing; before her broken body gave up on her? Derek had said she could handle the most pain. Did that mean damage as well? She didn’t want a slow death. 

“I’ll give you time.” was the answering hiss. 

Erica’s vision was starting to go black around the edges again. There was the clatter of nails against the floor and the slam of a door. A door? It didn’t have the same heady slam of the vault door. She didn’t have much time to ponder on it or what Kali had meant as the darkness swallowed her again.

 

* * *

 

This time when Erica’s eye opened her vision was painfully clear. Everything stood out in sharp, vivid, detail. She could she the storage racks through the dark, read the labels off the ancient cleaners on the bottom shelf. Erica eyes flickered to the tilted floors; to the dark stains on the floor that must be from her. She shivered and a whimper escaped from her throat. She was covered with a cold sweat and her veins… they _burned._ Cold, sharp fragments of ice were piercing at every bit of her being.

No. That wasn’t right. Erica squeezed her eyes tight and willed herself to focus. No one could help if you couldn’t _explain. ‘_ All over’ was useless. It was... the cold was localized. In her gut, at her neck. Belly and throat.

Of course. 

The sickly sweet scent finally overrode the copper staining the inside of her nose. She had smelt it once before. The similar scent that had lingered on Derek and Scott after the night of the rave. After Derek had saved Scott from the Argents. 

 _Wolfsbane._  

Erica shivered. Kali had promised her more time. A laugh bubbled up Erica’s tainted throat, the sound was mangled and it came out in the form a sob. She was cold. That had been all she wanted: more time. Time to get her driver's license. Time to explore. Time to have friends; fall in love. Time to prove people wrong. 

Erica reached out a hand. It was like thousands of frozen arrow heads were piercing her veins with each beat of her heart. She wasn’t going to meet death face down in a puddle of her own bodily fluids. Not like that.

 _Please_ , not like that.

She had to think past the splintering of her veins. Door, there had been a door; a normal one. Erica clawed at the floor. If she could get out. Find help. At least tell them were Boyd was before the poison reached her heart. She had to be _stronger_ than it. Her claws dug into the tiled floor as she inched forward. Her beat pounded in her ears, her own personal countdown. She needed to figure out how long she had. How fast the poison was spreading.  

 

_“--You all need to learn everything that I know. As fast as I can teach you.”_

 

When it reached her heart it was over.

That was one of the first things Derek had taught them. Even before the gymnastics. Evasion and what to do if you get shot with a wolfsbane bullet. Everything focused on hunters, hunters and the kanima. It was no wonder in that first fight Scott had wiped their asses. _Scott_ hadn’t been what Derek was worried about.  

She didn’t know how long it took to crawl over to the shelves. White spots appeared before her eyes as she pushed herself up in a sitting position so that she was leaning against a rack. She gagged again. It wasn’t bile that filled her mouth this time. It was rancid and saccharine at the same time; a thick dark puss that dribbled down past her chin.

Erica thought she had been a good listener, at first. She had followed orders. They made sense. Derek had made sense. He had seen her as useful. They made each other stronger. The pack made them stronger. Power. Derek was the head but they had shared it. An idea Scott had missed. A lesson he hadn’t _heard_. She didn’t have a pack now. She had stopped listening.

She couldn’t keep count of her heartbeats.

She had been good at judging others reactions. She could easily read Boyd and Isaac, not that they hid from her. That, along with her looks, had made her the perfect distraction. She had been good at that... right? No, she _had been._ Stalling, weedling out information. They had _known_ what she was doing but, yet, they hadn’t been able to stop her. She _was_ _good_ at that. It was the fighting she had failed at. Dodging.

Her head lolled down against her chest and Erica fought again as her body begged her to fall under unconsciousness’ sweet spell. No, she couldn’t afford it. She _had_ to do this. Failure wasn’t an-- Her thought, echoed from earlier, cut off sharply as Erica recognized it. She could feel the ice crystallizing in her veins, inching forward toward her chest. She could _see it;_ jet black veins standing out against her pale skin. In horror, she watched as the the darkness moved, tiny microscopic amounts, branching out down her chest. Her heart stutted in her cooling chest. She could feel the count down. She could _see it._

_Oh._

 

She was going to die. 

 

She _didn’t_ have time. She was going to die, cold and alone; watching her death creep closer with each heartbeat, each breath.

 

She didn’t want to die.

 

Fighting back another sob Erica tried to move again. The poison was halting her healing, sapping whatever little strength she had left. Agony tore through her body at the slightest contraction of a muscle.

She wanted her _Mom_ . Oh, _God_. Who was going to tell her mom this time? Was anyone? Would anyone ever be able to?

Breathing was starting to get difficult and Erica rolled her head on her neck to look towards the door to the side of her. Cold sweat beaded out from her forehead at the effort, dribbling down her face, stringing her eyes. Despite the salt she could _see_ it, the door. She had to go that way to get out. She begged her limbs to respond.

She wanted her Dad. She wanted him to ruffle her hair and borrow her laptop to check his emails because he was too ‘lazy’ to move as she leaned against him in a half doze.   

The edges of her eyes prickled anew but they remained dry; she had nothing left. She couldn’t move. Exhaustion pulled at her very soul. The darkness was beginning to tinge her vision again. 

She wanted to see Boyd again. And Isaac.

Fear was and acrid smell, it tasted sour on her tongue. She was just so cold. Her veins felt stretched, like the ice crystals has expanded far past it’s passages capacity to stretch. All adaptability had a limit.   

 

_“You think I'm teaching you how to fight? Huh? Look at me! I'm teaching you how to survive!”_

 

She hadn’t listened. He hadn’t been fast enough. They had been over their heads. She wasn’t going to survive. He had been afraid. So afraid. He had been right to be.

Erica was afraid. 

She wanted **_Derek_ **.

She wanted the alpha who had picked her up from school. Who taught them about lore, about symbols, about anchors. She wanted the asshole who yelled at them when they messed up an exercise. The alpha that had dropped everything, plans and all, and came for them when they cried out.

Erica couldn’t even cry out now; the shallowest of breaths came out as a gargle. Not that Derek would even come if she could. She had left the pack. His pack. She didn’t have an alpha to protect her anymore. To save her. The lone wolf _dies._ _  
_

  

_“--But I told you how to survive. You do it as a pack.”_

 

She had just wanted more time for them all. For herself. Why couldn’t they have had more time just to _live?_ Why, for just once, couldn’t life just be fair to her? Why had Matt been such a murderous jackass and controlled the Kanima? Why did the Argent clan have to come start a genocide in _her_ town? Why were the humans so _blood thirsty_ ? Why had a pack of alpha’s cornered _them?_ All such a pointless thing to ask, now of all times.

The black lines had disappeared beneath her shirt. 

Erica wondered if this was what being frozen alive felt like. It would be easier, to let the darkness take her. She was only giving Kali what she wanted by staying awake. Experiencing the torture longer.

Erica didn’t know what was worse. The pain or the fact that she had been discarded like garbage. 

Like she was nothing.

She was terrified. What waited at the end of that darkness? There was no promise it would be any less pain than what she had now.   

She didn’t want to die.

Someone had _seen_ her and reminded her she was more than just a victim of circumstance. She had tasted heaven on earth. She had been so close to her dream. People had looked at her like she was worth the space she filled. People had cared about her. She had started to make friends. She had a place in the world.

There was a great throb, like an arrow had pierced her in the chest and started vibrating it’s way out; slicing anew with each microscopic wobble.   

She was going to die alone. She didn’t want to die _alone._  

At least the pain was starting to fade.

There was an odd rhythm in the closet. Confusing. It was slow, uneven. Erica felt light headed, she couldn’t concentrate. She shouldn’t be focusing on the past anyway. Foreword. That was the way.

She just had to keep her eyes open.

She could…

 

                 ...do that.

 

The rhythm was starting to disappear. Erica let her head fall back onto the shelf behind her. Looking ahead. Better.

 

You... 

 

         Should….

 

                      Always…..

 

                                     Look......

 

  

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't kill me ~~like I killed Erica.~~  
>   
>  Let me know if I made any horrible mistakes. Constructive criticism is always welcome.


End file.
